bug#46047: 28.0.50; Namazu-based mail searching not working anymore

[Eric Abrahamsen]

Torsten Bronger <bronger@physik.rwth-aachen.de> writes:

> Since commit 7fad12c59b3c65665c10050e800d1d7ad5a2e056, I have
> problems getting namazu-based mail searching working.  My
> configuration says:
>
> In .emacs:
>
> (setq nnir-namazu-index-directory "/var/lib/namazu/")
>
> In .gnus:
>
> (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "" (nnir-search-engine namazu))))
> ;; I have not set gnus-search-use-parsed-queries.
>
> This results in "Group nnselect:nnselect-87sg78bdzr.fsf contains no
> messages" error when I hit "G G" in the group buffer and enter a query
> string.  Besides, the namazu executable is not called at all.  The same
> behavour I get if I don’t configure namazu at all in Emacs/Gnus.

Thanks for the report. I haven't provided obsolete aliases for all of
the old nnir-<engine>-* variables, as that would be quite a pile, but if
that's annoying to enough people I can.

If you're not planning to revert to an earlier Emacs, it would be
easiest just to switch to setting `gnus-search-namazu-index-directory'.
If you are planning to revert, you could always set both. Alternately,
you could set the index directory within the server definition itself,
like so:

'((nnml "" (nnir-search-engine namazu
             (nnir-namazu-index-directory "/var/lib/namazu/"))))

I haven't yet added backwards compatibility code to honor that server
parameter, but I could do so fairly easily, then this config would be
past-and-future proof.

It's a little suspicious that the namazu program isn't getting called at
all, though. The code essentially just calls:

(start-process "name" <buffer> "namazu")

If "namazu" is on your path, it should be found.

Would you try setting the newer index-directory variable, just to
eliminate that as a source of error?

nnselect-run currently downgrades errors to messages (then reports no
messages found), so if there's really something blowing up, you might
see it in your *Messages* buffer.

Eric